JK Rowling apologises for killing Snape

For the past couple of years, on May 2 – the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts – JK Rowling has been saying sorry to her fans for some of the characters she brutally killed off during the climactic clash between good and evil witches and wizards, which took place in her book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

In 2015, she apologised for killing off Fred Weasley, one half of the Weasley twins.

In 2016 she expressed her sorrow at the death of werewolf Lupin, who had just become a father to baby Teddy – and this year, she's delivered the one apology we've always (always) wanted.

Once again, it's the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts so, as promised, I shall apologise for a death. This year: Remus Lupin.

The character Severus Snape, Hogwarts potions master and longterm enemy of Harry, is one of Rowling's most complex and best-loved creations.

A deeply flawed man who turned to Voldemort at a young age, Snape later underwent a change of heart, after learning that the powerful dark wizard was planning to murder the only woman he had ever loved, Harry's mother Lily.

In an attempt to save Lily's life, he turned traitor and began working for Dumbledore, putting his own safety at risk. He kept his actions secret, and was able to resume his role as a spy once Voldemort returned to power – but was eventually murdered by the Dark Lord, who mistakenly believed that killing Snape would make him the true master of the mystical Elder Wand.

Heartbreakingly, Harry himself only discovered the years of sacrifice his old enemy had made after Snape's death, by watching his former teacher's magically extracted and preserved memories.

Snape was played in the Harry Potter films by Alan Rickman, who died in January 2016.

The actor later revealed that, ahead of the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling had shared a small part of Snape's secret with him, although she did not reveal the full extent of the twist.

Alan Rickman as Snape, with Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

"She gave me one tiny, little, left of field piece of information that helped me think that he was more complicated and that the story was not going to be as straight down the line as everybody thought, Rickman said in 2011. "If you remember when I did the first film she'd only written three or four books, so nobody knew where it was really going except her. And its was important for her that I know something, but she only gave me a tiny piece of information which helped me think it was a more ambiguous route.”

After Rickman's death, Rowling clarified exactly what the secret was: she had told the actor the meaning of the word "always" (which Snape famously utters when he reveals to Dumbledore that he has always loved Harry's mother).